Industries

An effective survey requires good planning, detailed and accurate execution, qualitative analysis, and effective reporting of results. We prepare your survey to be administered as either a scannable, paper-based document, an online web-based survey, or a combination of both.

Once your completed paper surveys are returned to us, we scan them, performing a variety of accuracy checks to ensure all data is recovered. Our rapid turnaround of the completed survey or test documents provides decision-makers and stakeholders with the accurate data analysis and feedback needed for effective decision-making.

We are proud of our long-term partnerships and referrals from satisfied clients. Our clients span numerous industries, some of which are:

Education

Gathering information in the education sector is critical to the continued quality of on-going service delivery. At Pivotal Data, our survey services provide Colleges, Universities, Private Institutions and K-12 School Districts with a wide range of information gathering choices. No matter what kind of data you are seeking, we create the tools for you to gather the data in a timely fashion at a fair cost that meets or exceeds your expectations.

Whether you have a need to administer surveys to:

measure student satisfaction through faculty and course evaluation,

meet the accreditation requirements for Colleges and Universities,

fulfill staff professional development need,

administer tests to provide accurate student assessment data,

assess institutional progress towards goals and objectives,

conduct graduate-level research studies,

distribute community surveys in preparation for a bond or referendum, or

Our survey services provide essential technology, experience, and quality data collection instruments to education organizations. Why not join the growing list of organizations that rely on Pivotal Data to automate the data collection and survey processing tasks so vital to their success saving them time, resources and headaches? Our experienced staff will provide you with a one-stop outsource solution for any or all of your survey needs.

Here are just a few examples of how our clients in educational organizations are benefiting from efficient and accurate automated data collection services in ways that will enable them to improve educational service delivery.

During their post-graduate studies, PhD candidates create surveys to collect research data for their dissertation.

Conferences, Meetings, Workshops, Tradeshows, Conventions and other Events are among the most valuable and important tools an organization uses to train, motivate and transfer information to their members or customers. In a marketplace competing for the time and dollars of attendees, accurate and timely feedback is essential to guarantee continued success.

Evaluations are the vehicle that allows attendees to share their opinions and their likes and dislikes with others as to what they deem beneficial from an event. They are the vehicle that allows the planning committee to make decisions on items like how well the sessions were received by the attendees, which presenters should be invited back, whether the length of the conference is appropriate, specific breakout topics and content of general sessions for future events. Acting on feedback from customers is why a conference will continue to grow and become a more valuable source of relevant and reliable information.

Pivotal Data provides your Membership Association, Nonprofit or other organization with survey services to streamline event data collection without tying up your organization’s limited resources. Through our professional-looking, customized reports, we will also provide you with the means to disseminate your attendees’ feedback to stakeholders.

What do you want to know about your event?

Do you need to evaluate the quality and relevance of the educational sessions?

Do you need to evaluate the effectiveness of individual speakers?

Would you like to gauge the impact of your exhibits?

Would you like to know the attendees’ overall impression of the conference, including logistics and the overall quality of the lodging and meals?

Do you need to collect demographic information on the attendees?

In partnership with you, we will develop the most effective questions necessary for your survey forms to gather desired information, and we will work with you to design the most effective report format for presentation of the information after the conference. After the conference, our experienced staff will quickly and accurately provide the information that you need to assess the effectiveness of your conference and plan for the next one.

Here are just a few examples of how our clients who are hosting Conferences, Meetings, Workshops, Tradeshows, Conventions and other Events are benefiting by converting data collection from manual to automated processes that will enable them to improve service delivery.

Numerous corporations and professional membership associations are using Pivotal Data’s services to collect feedback from attendees to their workshops, seminars and conferences held monthly, quarterly or yearly. Conducting surveys can reveal which areas or topics their audience is interested in for events.

At their annual conference several organizations provide certification testing for training programs within their field.

Business

Information is the lifeblood of today’s businesses. Successful organizations continuously gather information to effectively operate and grow their businesses. Those who have automated their feedback processes gain tremendous advantage by reducing operational costs and increasing productivity. Those who do not fall behind.

Across multiple industries, this is a time when research staff are being reduced and increased market competition requires even more effective, actionable research for an organization to remain successful. At Pivotal Data, we understand the challenges you face and tailor our services to meet your needs. We are focused on providing services that satisfy the information gathering needs of all types of Businesses – Corporations, Small Businesses, Consultants, Entrepreneurs, Nonprofits and Membership Associations.

Manually keying data from survey forms into your business systems is time consuming, costly and error-prone. The potential for compliance or privacy violations due to operator error is high. Our clients have found that it is much more cost effective and less stressful to have us do the work of survey form design and creation, data collection, scanning, and analysis than it is to purchase the expensive software and hardware required, let alone the cost of hiring and training staff to operate these complex systems. We improve data turnaround times and reduce tedious manual data entry, giving you accurate, timely information for improved decision-making and more time for other mission-critical tasks. Our services allow you to seamlessly collect survey response data from multiple sources including the web, fax, paper, e-mail, or a combination of any of these. We provide you with the results via meaningful reports.

Here are just a few examples of how our clients in business organizations are benefiting from efficient and accurate automated data collection services in ways that will enable them to improve their market share.

Numerous corporate training centers are using Pivotal Data’s survey services to collect feedback from participants in their workshops, seminars and conferences. Conducting surveys reveals the areas or topics in which target audiences are interested and what their learning preferences are for future planning.

From small entrepreneurial organizations to Fortune 100 companies, our survey solutions are used to conduct satisfaction surveys with both customers and employees alike.

A cable company that maintains a fleet of service vehicles for its installers conducts an on-going survey on repair issues to meet Department of Transportation compliance standards.

Online surveys are used throughout the hiring process of a local company that owns and manages several restaurant chains. Data that has been compiled over twenty years of being in operation is continually refined and incorporated into their process.

Several computer training companies conduct web-based tele-courses. At the end of the course, they point participants to a URL of an online evaluation that will give feedback for use in planning future course delivery.

Nonprofits

Evaluation is a subject that has gained lots of attention lately as a result of Sarbanes-Oxley. Most, if not all, Foundations, State Granting Sources, Corporate Sponsors and Private Donors are requiring some form of evaluation to ensure that monies received are being spent wisely and/or to verify that the organization’s constituents are indeed benefiting. The name of the game now more than ever is “accountability”.

There are many kinds of survey evaluations that may be useful to 501(c) organizations. The type of evaluation you undertake depends upon what information you want to learn about your program(s). The survey must address the questions of quality, effectiveness and impact in a rigorous and coordinated way. In general, a program evaluation should be designed to verify, document and quantify program activities and their effects in order to ultimately improve the program effectiveness and service delivery to the target populations served. For example:

A Goal-based Evaluation is used reveal to what extent your programs are achieving your organization’s overall, pre-determined goals and objectives.

A Process-based Evaluation is used to help your organization understand how your programs really work and the strengths and weaknesses of each in order to improve the program’s service delivery.

An Outcome-based Evaluation is used to understand, verify or increase the impact of your organization’s products, services or programs on its clients.

Evaluations are an integral part of day-to-day operations and management of programs, and thus, are an on-going activity. A well-planned evaluation effort provides valuable information for decision-making.

Whether you are required to submit satisfaction data and other statistics to funding agencies, or you are simply looking for the means to help you understand your client needs and deliver better service, Pivotal Data has data collection tools that will be of benefit to you. Our focus on providing feature-rich survey and reporting services at a fair price makes Pivotal Data’s services valuable and accessible to:

And, if you are a nonprofit or association that has an educational or training arm that offers workshops and seminars, survey instruments are great tools to make your training more effective. Among other things, conducting a survey can tell you in which areas or topics your target audience is interested, and/or about their learning preferences.

Here are just a few examples of how our nonprofit clients are benefiting by converting data collection from manual to automated processes to enable them to improve service delivery.

Numerous professional 501(c)(6) membership associations are using Pivotal Data’s services to collect feedback from participants in their meetings and conferences as well as to provide certification testing for training programs held in conjunction with these events.

Several churches and synagogues ask for feedback from their congregations about the programs that they offer, e.g., Sunday school, vacation bible school camps, along with how they feel about the administration of the organization.

As new members join their organization, membership associatons utilize the membership application as a survey tool to collect information about new member’s interests.

When submitting grant application packages to funders, many 501(c)(3) nonprofits propose on-going survey and evaluation tools as a means to evaluate the effectivity of their programs.

Several membership associations have seen a need to establish a baseline for compensation within their respective professions. In order to gather the data from individuals practicing in the field, they conduct yearly salary surveys.

Any organization or individual who is involved in the development, implementation, replication, support, or funding of a health program has a stake in understanding how – and how well – existing programs work. As the breadth and scope of these programs grow, so too does the need for assessing their effectiveness and disseminating information about them to others in the primary care, public health, and health services research arenas. Evaluations are a natural mechanism by which this assessment and dissemination can take place.

Stakeholder groups that would be most likely to benefit from evaluations include:

Hospitals, Clinics & Health Centers

Private Physician and Dental Offices

Primary Care Providers and Public Health Professionals

Individuals or Agencies involved with Evidence-Based Research or Clinical Trials

We understand that the purse strings have been tightened on research and that every dollar spent must have “bottom line impact”. Our focus on providing feature-rich services at a fair price makes Pivotal Data’s services valuable and accessible.

Here are just a few examples of how our clients in healthcare organizations are benefiting by converting data collection from manual to automated processes to reduce costs and improve care delivery:

In order to survey the involvement of pharmacists in clinical drug trials, a local healthcare organization created a questionnaire that was submitted to all community pharmacies, pharmacy departments in hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies within their state.

A private donor funded a research study to obtain information about the facilities within their tri-state area about the facilities that supply healthcare, the services they render, and the characteristics of the patients they serve.

Several product development companies conduct research of consumers that use the web to research and/or purchase their healthcare products or obtain information. Within their field of interest in each case, they measured the respondents’ use of the web, and search engines in particular.

A large physical therapy clinic created functional pain assessment questionnaires and ran a two-year evalutive study on low back pain. They subsequently published their findings in an industry-wide journal.